Lot 262

19th C. Chinese Dali Marble Dream Stone - Shih-Hua

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Lot 262
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19th C. Chinese Dali Marble Dream Stone - Shih-Hua
19th C. Chinese Dali Marble Dream Stone - Shih-Hua
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19th C. Chinese Dali Marble Dream Stone - Shih-Hua

Estimate: $800 - $1,200

Starting Bid: $300

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
August 7, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

East Asia, China, Qing Dynasty, ca. 19th century CE. A horizontal slab of Dali marble that has spent an age becoming a landscape without any human assistance: cool blue-grey strata press and fold across the stone's face in formations that read unmistakably as mist-wrapped peaks, a pale sky above and a quieter shore below, the whole scene inflected by warm ochre veining that wanders through the composition like a distant river seen from altitude. Cut from deposits in the Cangshan range of Yunnan province in western China and finished with a thin coat of wax to deepen its natural translucency, the stone belongs to the tradition of shih-hua, dream stones whose geological inclusions and mineral striations the scholarly eye reads as spontaneous ink painting. Size of stone: 23" W x 9.75" H (58.4 cm W x 24.8 cm H); of frame: 19.5" W x 16.25" H (49.5 cm W x 41.3 cm H)

Set in a deep reddish-brown frame with a white mat, the panel is presented as the Chinese literati tradition always intended: as an object for sustained contemplation rather than passing admiration. Scholars of the Ming and Qing periods hung such stones in their studios alongside brushwork and classical objects, finding in the earth's own compositions a philosophical argument that nature's artistry preceded and exceeded anything the human hand might accomplish. The tradition received a second life in the 19th century when French collectors, encountering these panels through trade, christened them "pierres de reve," a name that captured their quality of induced reverie without quite capturing the deeper cosmological stakes the Chinese tradition had always assigned them.

Provenance: private New Jersey, USA collection

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Item # 169836

  • Condition: Mounted behind glass in custom matte and frame; has not been examined outside of frame. Professionally repaired from three large pieces with chipping along visible break line. Some scuffs, nicks, and abrasions to frame; none of which affect stone. Otherwise, nice presentation.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000